


the art of silence & pretty girls

by Cavengari



Category: Power Rangers (2017)
Genre: F/F, kimberly has medical training, trini is small and stubborn and gets hurt a lot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-06
Updated: 2017-04-06
Packaged: 2018-10-15 07:11:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,855
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10552174
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cavengari/pseuds/Cavengari
Summary: Trini’s small.She knows it. She owns it. She uses it to her advantage.Still, sometimes it sucks. More often than not, her size leads to injury, and whenever she’s hurt she has to look Kimberly in the eyes and see that stupid, disappointed stare that she’s grown uncomfortably familiar with.And of course, Kimberly’s the only one in the group with any scrap of medical training, so Trini will have to sit still and glare at the ground as she’s evaluated. It’s painful and frustrating, but more than anything it’s embarrassing. Humiliating.or;Trini and Kim, and the series of events that brings them together.





	

Trini’s small.

She knows it. She owns it. She uses it to her advantage.

Still, sometimes it sucks. Sometimes, she’ll be in the pit and someone will grab her, flip her, drop her easily. Sometimes she’ll fall behind while running with the others and won’t be able to catch up, no matter how much she pushes herself. More often than not, her size leads to injury, and whenever she’s hurt she has to look Kimberly in the eyes and see that stupid, disappointed stare that she’s grown uncomfortably familiar with.

And of course, Kimberly’s the only one in the group with any scrap of medical training, so Trini will have to sit still and glare at the ground as she’s evaluated. It’s painful and frustrating, but more than anything it’s embarrassing. Humiliating.

Why they even need a medic is beyond her. She has her power coin; it healed them after the train crash, why can’t it just heal her after practice?

“That’s not how it works,” Jason tells her when she voices her question. “Your life isn’t in danger, you’re not fighting to save the world. You’re going to heal. _Naturally_.”

Trini scowls and says nothing. Kimberly rolls her eyes and rips open a alcohol swab. She steps closer and holds it just below Trini’s hairline.

“Sorry. This might hurt.”

* * *

She really does hate Zack.

Well… not really. But he’s annoying, especially ‘cause he’s so damn _tall_.

She runs at him full speed, ready to tackle him backwards into the rock wall, and he _sidesteps_. Doesn’t even bother to counter, just swings out of her way like a broken screen door and wraps his arms around her waist, lifting her into the air and dropping her onto her back. Billy laughs. Jason raises his eyebrows. Kimberly sighs and looks away.

“Come on, Crazy Girl. Let’s go again.” Zack pats his chest, smirking. Trini glares and growls a bit, pushes herself up.

“What, no sarcastic comeback?” Zack’s grin grows. “You running out of steam there, short stuff?”

 _We’ll see who’s running out of steam_.

Zack shrugs when she stays silent, shifts back into a relaxed fighting stance. Trini’s whole body is sore, but she won’t show it because she _knows_ that Zack is just as tired as she is and she’ll be damned if she gives up first.

She charges again. Zack raises his leg to kick her back but she’s already there, arms wrapping around his calf and shoving backwards with all of her might. If Jason or Billy or even Kimberly had done that, Zack would be on the ground. As it is, he’s just thrown off balance, one arm swinging behind him, looking for support. Trini pushes again, then drops low to the ground and sweeps his other leg out from under him. He skids about a foot away, then lands on his back. Faintly she can hear Billy and Jason cheering for her, but who cares?

Zack gets up, carefree demeanor gone. He sprints forward (god, he’s fast) and ploughs into her, sending her tumbling into the dirt. The boys stop cheering.

_That’s it._

“Take it off!” She scrambles to her feet and stalks up to her stupid opponent.

“Take what off?”

“This!”

She jabs a finger into his black armor and feels her own start to dissolve. Zack lifts his visor, confused.

“Trini, what the hell are you doing?”

Trini turns and walks back to her side of the pit. “ _We_ are fighting. Without armor.”

Kimberly shakes her head. “That’s not happening.”

“I agree.” Billy looks to Jason, then back at her. “It’s too dangerous.”

“We’ve done it before.”

“Because we didn’t have our suits,” Jason argues.

“So what? What’s different?”

“You could get hurt!”

Kimberly slaps her hand over her mouth. Trini’s lips part, just a bit.

“ _I_ could get hurt?”

“Th- that’s not what I meant.”

Trini sighs and turns to Zack. “Come on.”

Zack glances between her and Jason, her and Billy, her and Kimberly. After a moment of deliberation his suit begins to dissipate. He nods to her.

“Let’s do this.”

* * *

“You’re _such_ an idiot.”

_I know._

“What the hell were you thinking?”

_Nothing._

“You could have been really hurt.”

“I’m fine.”

“You’re _not_ , you’re crazy and you’re literally bleeding into your eye.”

“I can still see.”

 _Everything’s red_.

“I’m taking you to the hospital.”

* * *

They don’t go to the hospital.

They _do_ go to Kimberly’s house, because Trini refuses to make this into a big deal and Kimberly refuses to let her go blind in peace.

The Hart residence is nice. And not nice in that arbitrary way everyone at school uses it, not nice as in _awful but I have to be polite_ , just genuinely nice. There are shutters on the windows and big flower boxes in the garden. Kim’s room is clean, which, like, _go figure,_  but she doesn’t get a chance to look around because she’s being pulled into the bathroom and placed on the edge of the bathtub.

“Hold still, okay?” Kimberly instructs. “Can you still see?”

Trini looks around, covers her left eye with her hand. “Yes.”

“Good. Now take your shirt off.”

“My shirt…”

“We need to rinse the blood out. Take off your shirt and lean under the faucet.”

Trini blushes and scowls and carefully lifts her shirt over her head, only struggling a little when her arms get stuck. Kimberly stares at the floor as Trini leans back, and this may be the most awkward thing Trini’s ever experienced because she _may_ have an incredibly stupid crush on Kimberly and she really doesn’t want to be shirtless in front of a girl that she knows she has no chance with, especially not after getting her ass beat by their friend.

“Ready?”

Trini nods.

The water is cold. It stings her face, makes the cut above her eye burn. Kimberly stays silent throughout the entire ordeal. Trini mentally arranges the soaps and shampoos on the counter in alphabetical order.

After a while, Kimberly shuts off the faucet and Trini sits up. The cut is still burning, more painfully now that she’s aware of how deep it is. She stares into the mirror as Kimberly smooths a few pieces of white bandaging tape over her forehead.

God, she’s a mess.

She picks up her shirt and almost immediately drops it, because _holy crap that’s a lot of blood_. Kimberly snorts.

“We can wash it,” she offers. “You can wear one of mine.”

Trini shrugs. “Okay.”

* * *

“So you’re alright now?” Zack asks.

“Kimberly patched me up.”

“Is that a euphemism?”

“Goodbye, Zack.”

He laughs and Trini rolls her eyes and hangs up. Kimberly walks back into the room holding the shirt from earlier.

“Everything okay?” She perches on the edge of the bed, holding out the shirt.

“Zack just wanted to apologize. Not that he needed to.” Trini takes the shirt, inspects it for any blood. “Thanks.”

“I still don’t understand why you did it,” Kimberly hedges. “What’s wrong with using our armor?”

“Nothing.”

“Then what were you thinking?”

Trini hangs her head a bit. “Nothing.”

“Trini, you’re always thinking something. You really expect me to believe—”

“I hate being worse than everyone else, okay?” Trini snaps. “I hate always falling behind and needing you to help me, especially when you look so _disappointed_ , and I hate _losing_ all the time!”

She shoves her clothes into her backpack and stands. “I should go.”

“Trini—”

“It’s late.”

“Stay over, then.”

Trini freezes halfway to the bedroom door. “I…”

“Please,” Kimberly murmurs. “We’ve barely hung out recently. Or at all, really. Not since the attack. I… I miss you.”

Trini sighs. This is a bad idea. This is a disaster waiting to happen. She should say no.

But Kim is giving her an extreme puppy stare and Trini knows she doesn’t stand a chance.

* * *

Her parents don’t pick up the phone. She calls them twice and never leaves a message. If they really want to know where she is, they’ll call her back.

(They don’t.)

Kimberly’s getting changed in the bathroom. Trini looks around, careful not to touch anything. This room is nicer than nice. Everything looks expensive.

There’s picture frames on the bedside table. Kimberly with her parents, Kimberly playing bass in someone’s garage, and then—

Her breath catches.

Kimberly, grinning, with one arm wrapped around Trini and the other around Billy. Next to them, Jason is shoving an entire doughnut into his mouth.

Trini smiles. Zack had taken that.

Kimberly emerges from the bathroom, hair brushed and braided over her shoulder. Trini tries not to stare.

“How’s your eye?” Kimberly asks. Trini gives her a halfhearted thumbs up. “C’mere.”

She lets herself be pulled onto the bed. Kimberly holds her face and leans in, looking first at the bandaged gash and then at her eye. Trini swallows.

“Is your vision fuzzy at all?”

She shakes her head.

“Does your forehead hurt?”

She nods.

“Good. Maybe next time you’ll think before you challenge someone twice as tall as you to an unarmored fight.”

Trini frowns. “I told you—”

“I know what you told me, and it’s bullshit.” Kimberly crosses her arms. “You are every bit as good as the rest of us. Hell, you’re probably better with all that time you spent up on the cliffs.”

“But I’m not—”

“Oh my god, what do I have to do to get this through your head?” Kimberly closes her eyes, breathes for a moment, then looks back at Trini. “You are _incredible_. But you don’t always have to be incredible, and you don’t have to prove it. Trust me, we know how amazing you are.”

Trini opens her mouth but her brain is short circuiting and she can’t think of anything to say. Kimberly rolls her eyes, leans over the edge of the bed and flips off the light. They’re left in the pale glow of the city lights shining through white curtains.

“Lay down,” Kimberly instructs. Trini obliges, lays on her side and faces the wall. There’s some rustling as Kimberly gets under the covers, then Trini feels a warm hand on her arm, urging her to flip over. She does and finds herself face to face with Kimberly. Their noses are maybe three inches apart. Her heart stutters in her chest, unsteady.

 _Holy shit_.

Kimberly looks breathtaking, makeup free and effortlessly gorgeous in a way Trini’s never seen her before. Her eyelashes flutter as she blinks. Trini bites her lip.

“Why don’t you smile at me?” Kimberly asks quietly.

Trini blinks. “What?”

“You smile at Zack, at Billy, even at Jason.” Kimberly glances away for a brief moment. “Why don’t you smile at me?”

Her voice is shaking, her usual confidence melting into insecurity under the night’s influence. She looks so, so sad. Trini’s heart aches.

“I’m sorry,” she whispers, and it’s small, it’s too small, it’s not enough. Kimberly’s eyes are watering now and Trini honestly thinks she’s going to die if she has to keep watching herself destroy this perfect being with her insensitivity.

She’s going to die if she doesn’t stop this, so she does.

She leans forward and kisses her.

Trini kisses Kimberly Hart.

* * *

The night is cold and Kimberly’s shirt isn’t as warm as her own. She’d forgotten her jacket on Kim’s bedroom floor in her haste to leave and she’d regret that if she could think at all.

She scurries up the cliff face, onto the plateau overlooking the mining field where it had all began. She doesn’t stop to see the view, though, just keeps running until she reaches the train car.

The door is unlocked (she doesn’t actually think you can lock it anymore) so she slips inside. Zack’s still awake, staring confusedly at her from his cot.

“Trini?” He shines his flashlight at her. “What the hell?”

“I did something stupid and I had to get out of there.” Trini breathes hard, fingernails digging into the fabric of her backpack.

“Get out of where?” Zack asks.

“Kimberly’s house.”

* * *

“So what did she do?” Zack bites down on a piece of microwave popcorn. “Did she kiss back? Did she say anything?”

“I told her I didn’t want to talk about it.”

“ _What?_ ” Zack throws his head back and groans. “You’ve been pining for her basically since she noticed you were alive! And now you kiss her and you don’t even let her tell you what she’s thinking?”

“I know what she’s thinking!” Trini argues. “She’s thinking _that was disgusting, I hope I never have to see her again._ ”

“You know that’s not true.”

Trini sighs. “It’s whatever, Zack. It doesn’t even matter.”

“No, if it didn’t matter you wouldn’t be here at _three in the frickin’ morning_!” Zack shoves more popcorn into his mouth and chews aggressively. “Trini, she’s not dumb. Even if she _doesn’t_ like you like that, which she _totally effin’ does,_ by the way, she’s not going to throw away an entire friendship just because you kissed her.”

“She’s straight, she’s probably going to hate me.”

“How do you know she’s straight?”

“I—” Trini falters. “She’s never—”

“Never what?” Zack raises his eyebrows. “Never expressed interest in girls? Never come out to us? Trini, you _hate_ labels. You won’t even label yourself, why should she?”

Trini frowns. “I don’t know. I don’t know. Just, _please_ help me figure this out before she wakes up and realizes I left. Tell me how to fix this.”

Zack rubs his forehead. “You know what I’m going to say.”

“You’re going to say I should just talk to her because I’m gonna have to see her eventually.”

“Exactly. See? You didn’t even need me, though I am glad you came.”

Trini sighs and stares at her shoes. “Thanks, Zack.”

“You’re welcome.” Zack wads the popcorn package into a ball and throws it across the car. “You wanna crash here tonight?”

Trini nods and Zack scoots over. She climbs into the cot and Zack shuts off the flashlight.

“She was right, though, you are incredible. And I’m sorry about your eye.”

“I’m sorry about your shoes.”

“Apology accepted. Goodnight.”

* * *

She sleeps late and wakes up sore. Sparring with Zack coupled with her midnight run had exhausted her body, though she was too high on adrenaline to notice the day before.

“Finally, you’re up.” Zack hands her her phone. “That’s been going off. I tried to open it but I don’t know your password. I did try _54623759_ though, which is the alphanumeric key for—”

“For Kimberly, I get it.” Trini blindly unlocks her phone. “ _Z-a-c-k-s-u-c-k-s._ ”

“You have to be kidding.”

She shrugs. Then, “Yikes.”

“What’s up?”

“Thirteen messages and six missed calls.”

“From who?”

“I’ll give you three guesses.”

Zack winces. “Call her back, maybe?”

Trini snorts. “Go for it. I gotta get to school, anyway.”

“Want me to come?”

“Only if you want to.” Trini shoulders her backpack and pockets her phone.

“I’m gonna let you handle that,” Zack decides. Trini nods and waves, pushing out of the train car and jogging towards the town. Her legs ache and her chest is still burning, but the cold morning air helps clear her head. She wishes, for a moment, that she had her headphones. But really, if she’s wishing for things, she could do a lot better.

She’s late to her first period class and sleeps through most of her second. She considers going to the cafeteria for lunch, but the thought of coming face to face with Kimberly is enough to make her stay away. She goes to the library, instead, and stares at a wall as she tries not to think about the fact that her next period is biology and that Kimberly will be there. She’ll probably completely ignore her, or call her out in front of the entire class, and Trini’s not really sure which one would be worse. She thinks about skipping (she doesn’t want to go, she doesn’t like new things) but Zack’s right, they’ll have to talk eventually.

Zack continues to be right until Trini’s outside the bio lab door and her heart starts beating far too loud to be healthy and she decides that she should probably go to the nurse’s office to get it checked out and have the nurse tell Ms. Smith what’s happening.

 _Coward_ , she thinks as the nurse checks her pulse.

_Whatever._

* * *

Her panicking heart had turned into faux nausea, and the nurse had written her a pass for both her third and fourth periods, meaning she could head up to the ship and train with Zack a bit before the others got there. And yeah, she knows that training with Zack is kind of how she got into this mess in the first place, but she wasn’t lying earlier. She really does hate being worse than the rest of the team and if she wants to get better, she has to train.

Zack isn’t very enthusiastic about the idea, but he agrees as long as she promises to wear her armor this time. She does, reluctantly, and they spend the next three hours practicing high and low kicks. Jason, Billy, and Kimberly arrive and Trini’s heart rate spikes, but she meets Kimberly’s worried eyes with an even gaze, almost challenging her to speak up.

She doesn’t.

The practice is awkward (especially after Jason insists that Kimberly help her train) and she’s pretty sure everyone knows something’s going on. But Kim isn’t letting it get to her, so neither will Trini.

Billy’s growing restless knowing that someone is coming, that there are more people out there with the same intent as Rita, and he makes sure everyone knows it. By the time they’re done they’re all so sweaty and hot that Jason grabs Zack from behind and jumps up into the water. Billy laughs and claps and jumps up on his own (no touching, Trini remembers, unless he initiates it) and then it’s just her and Kimberly standing under the cave pool. Trini stares at her shoes again, wondering if she should say something or just sit down and watch the boys swim, but before she can make up her mind Kimberly’s arms are around her waist and she’s being thrown upwards into clear, cold water. Seconds later, Kimberly appears next to her, hair splaying wildly behind her as she swims closer. She reaches out, unsure, swims closer, but suddenly Trini’s lungs are screaming for air and she can’t deal with this, not right now, so she surfaces and coughs and struggles to breathe. Jason is whooping and splashing around, Billy is laughing, and Zack is watching her with curious eyes.

Kimberly surfaces at the other end of the cave. She looks hurt. Trini looks away.

Her clothes are heavy, dragging her downwards. She kicks and spreads her arms out like she’s been taught, scrambling to stay above water. Billy looks concerned.

“Move your legs slower.” He points to her frantic kicking. “You’re gonna wear yourself out.”

Trini slows her movements, breathing hard. She can feel Kimberly looking at her, probably wondering how she ever let someone this pitiful close enough to kiss her. She probably hates her. She’s probably disgusted.

Trini slips back underwater, humiliated.

* * *

Zack and Jason leave first, both needing to get home. Billy leaves after a few minutes of uncomfortable silence. Trini stays, and Kimberly does too, watching as Billy scales the cave walls and disappears with a wave.

It’s just them, then, treading water on opposite sides of the pool. Kimberly’s still looking at her, but she refuses to meet her eyes. She can’t. She’ll break.

“Trini.” Kimberly’s voice cracks. Trini’s heart clenches. She closes her eyes.

“I’m sorry,” she whispers.

“Talk to me,” Kimberly pleads. “Look at me.”

Trini does neither. She starts to cry.

“Trini?” There’s a splash, then Trini feels warm arms wrap around her. “Come on, don’t cry. Talk to me.”

Trini shivers and shakes her head. She doesn’t want to talk about this; she’s not ready to lose Kim. She shouldn’t have stayed that night, she should have left before she ever had a chance to mess things up this badly.

“We don’t have to talk about… _that_ ,” Kimberly whispers. “I know you don’t want to. We can talk about something else.”

Trini nods and Kimberly takes her hand, pulls her downwards through the water, back into the cave. Trini stumbles after the fall, staggers forward before righting herself. She wipes roughly at her cheeks even though her tears had been washed away by the freshwater. Kimberly watches from the ground. After a few seconds she raises an eyebrow expectantly.

“Well?”

Trini blinks. “I thought we didn’t—”

“We don’t,” Kimberly interrupts. “We don’t have to talk about the _kiss_. We _do_ have to talk about why you’ve been avoiding me all day.”

Trini frowns and stares at her shoes. Kimberly groans, frustrated.

“Okay, you know what? We _are_ talking about this. Everything.”

Trini buries her face in her hands. “I kissed you, Kim. Don’t you hate me?”

Kimberly gapes. “What?!”

“I kissed you!”

“I know! I know you kissed me!” She sounds exhausted. “And then you were gone when I woke up and you weren’t answering me and Zack said you were freaking out and I couldn’t find you and you weren’t in the cafeteria or in biology and I was worried!”

Trini softens. “You were worried about me?”

“Of course I was, you idiot!” Kim stares at her, hard. “I was _so_ worried! You can’t just disappear like that!”

Trini’s lip trembles. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t…” Kimberly sighs and shakes her head. “Don’t be sorry. Just don’t do it again.”

“Okay.” Trini nods. “And I’m sorry for kissing you, too. I shouldn’t have done that. I know that you… You would never want to be with me. I should have respected that.”

Kimberly closes her eyes and shakes her head and smiles and steps forwards and before Trini can understand what’s happening there’s a hand on the back of her neck and _oh_.

Kimberly’s kissing her.

Kimberly Hart is kissing her.

* * *

“You’re an idiot,” Kimberly tells her as they hike along the cliffside.

Trini grins and rolls her eyes. “I know, I know.”

“We could have been together this whole time if you’d just told me how you felt.”

“I thought you were straight!”

“And I thought you hated me!”

Trini stops walking. “You did?”

“I mean,” Kimberly shifts her weight from foot to foot, “I don’t anymore. But for a while, yeah.”

“Why?”

“I was a cheerleader.” She shrugs. “I didn’t know how long you’d been going to school here, I didn’t even know your name. I was a pretty awful person before all of this. And… you never smiled at me.”

“I wanted to.” Trini smiles now. “You were usually watching me get my ass handed to me or cleaning me up afterwards, though. And I didn’t think you’d want me to smile at you in school.”

“Well, I’m glad you’re not blind,” Kimberly chuckles. “And you can smile at me whenever you want.”

Trini’s smile grows. “Can I kiss you?”

Kimberly grins and nods and Trini’s heart swells.

“Whenever you want.”

**Author's Note:**

> unedited, of course. find me on tumblr @lxnaluthor.  
> feel free to leave a comment and validate me.


End file.
